Tobacco-free State of Delaware workplace rapidly approaching

Publication Date: 2012-12-12

• Author:Craig Anderson
• Publication:newszap.com, Delaware State News

January is fast approaching, and Gov. Jack A. Markell aims to meet his pledge of making all State of Delaware workplaces tobacco free by the first day of 2013. The governor referenced it in his last state of the state union address, and put it to paper last week to First State employees.

In a letter to state employees dated Dec. 6, the state spelled out its tobacco-free workplace policy that prohibits the use of all tobacco products “within the boundaries of state workplaces, including all buildings, all facilities, indoor outdoor spaces and the surrounding grounds owned by the state.”

The policy covers parking lots and walkways, state and private vehicles parked or operated on state workplace property. The policy does not include public roads or sidewalks.

Some state-owned grounds are already smoke free, including the Delaware Parks System, Division of Public Health and Social Services Hollaway campus in New Castle and Delaware Technical Community College-Terry branch. Delaware Family Court went completely smoke free outdoors at the beginning of 2012. Private Wilmington University also recently went smoke free.

In his state of the state address, Gov. Markell touched on improving a “sick” health care system making healthy choices and included government in the process saying “And within state government, it’s time to make all of our campuses, in their entirety, smoke-free. Otherwise, we are facilitating behavior that is not only harmful to those who engage in it, but that we know, with certainty, will heavily burden future generations of taxpayers.”

The outlined policy defined tobacco as any type of tobacco product including, but not limited to: cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, electronic cigarettes, pipes, bides, hookahs, smokeless, spit tobacco or snuff...